


The Isle of the Blessed

by wisepuma23



Series: Merlin, Son of Wilderness [2]
Category: Merlin (TV), Star Trek
Genre: BAMF Merlin, Gen, also a poor chicken dies in here, also you're probably wondering why the heck Star Trek is related to Mirroring Life and Death, and I'm pretty sure that's one of the correct ways to kill a chicken, so warning for that, trust me my family used to have a chicken farm, well come and see
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 02:01:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5112206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wisepuma23/pseuds/wisepuma23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin must come to terms with his first magical power gained in Camelot. The power to Mirror Life and Death, but while he's had watered down versions of this ability in his youth, dealing with <i>all</i> of it is completely different.</p><p>It is only the tip of the iceberg of what is to come.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nightmares

_The butcher beckoned the young boys inside of his dark cabin, Merlin and Will were all too happy to satisfy their curiosity on how chickens were properly cut up. They both wanted to go out with the hunters one of these days and help feed their mums._

_The children eyes’ got big when the burly man, Jack, roughly dropped a struggling chicken onto the countertop. They glanced at each other silently, both had assumed the chicken would already be dead._

_“Watch, this is how you break a chicken’s neck without having to wash your knife.” Jack said as he carefully laid his hands on neck and gently pushed the head until the eyes were facing the floor. The chicken went still, accepting its soon demise._

_Will flinched as the man pulled the neck backward, over the curve of it’s spine with a quiet crack. If Jack wasn’t watching Will’s reaction, he would’ve seen Merlin’s involuntary glimpse of gold. Merlin licked his lips, he had a feeling that the crops would prosper this year, as he watched the blood drip drop onto the ground._

_He walked out in a daze, with Will pulling him away by the arm. His magic usually stirred agitatedly with every moment, every beat of his own heart. Now, it was still as a lake, and Merlin didn’t entirely grasp why._

_“Merlin. Merlin. Merlin!” Will’s voice yelled from the other side of a field, why was he so far away? It didn’t matter, surely, Will did what he wanted. Besides, he needed to know what happened with his magic. He stood in front of the still lake, the unknown depths welcoming him, and he wanted to so badly it hurt. Memories slipped from him like dirt crumbling in his fists, something terrible had happened last time he dived into it. It couldn’t have been so bad if he didn’t remember, so what could go wrong?_

SLAP.

_“Huh, what?” reality came zooming back, and Merlin looked up at his best friend’s scared face. The grains of wheat were replaced with looming trees and the sky was considerably darker as if an hour or two had passed._

_“Where are we?” Merlin asked as he rubbed his face with a pout, no landmarks particularly jumped out at him._

_“I had to bring you deep into the forest, your eyes were glowing really bright, it…...it didn’t look good.” Will said shakily and did something that surprised him, he hugged him._

_“What happened, all I remember is the chicken, and” Merlin then broke into a grin, “we don’t have to worry about crops this year, Will! Isn’t that great?”_

_“The crops? What has that got to do with anything, and how do you know that?” Will asked with a frown as he pulled back, but Merlin’s body swayed with him._

_Merlin’s grin then turned into a confused frown, “I just know it. When the life left that chicken, I wondered what happened to it, like did a life spark leave our crops and that’s why they’re dying? If so, why can’t the life spark of that chicken go into our crops, since the chicken isn’t using it anymore, right? I think I put the life spark into the crops without thinking.” Merlin admitted with a sheepish shrug._

_“Merlin.” Will’s face was pale in the waning sunlight, “You know the stories as well as I, only human sacrifices are enough to power an entire harvest, and it’s difficult even for powerful sorcerers, not a chicken and a kid.”_

+++

Merlin gasped as he woke up from his dream, the color of chicken blood still fresh in his mind. It has only been about a week since Nimueh had left the world, and his mind was plagued with memories from his childhood. He needed to talk to someone, anyone, please. So he grabbed his jacket and made his way the few steps into Gaius’ chambers, his mentor would help him.

The power to Mirror Life and Death was a terrifying first taste of his birthright. Merlin had shuddered later as he recalled the pure _joy_ as the very magic of the world bending to his very will. He also felt more as he raised his hand to the thunderous sky. Merlin couldn’t exactly describe all of it to Gaius.

“More?” Gaius’ eyebrows pushed together as he mulled over the strange phrasing.

“ _More_ , like the sky was my second skin, like I could feel…..” Merlin frowned as he tried to put into English, “A bit of everything, really.”

“The storm was of your own making, was it not?” Gaius said in between spoonfuls of his broth. Merlin nodded in confusion.

“From what you’ve told me, you’ve always influenced the weather to some degree when you were younger. You might have outgrown it as you reined in your wild magic as you grew. However, combined with your extreme emotional distress and the enhanced magic of the Island, you created a storm that was seen from miles around. And….” Gaius hesitated with a crease in his wrinkled brow.

“What is it?” Merlin pressed curiously.

“And this is only talked of in magical theories, but it’s possible you might have _truly_ glimpsed into the larger magical reservoir held in the very fabric of the world. That storm was _you_ , other sorcerers could only coax clouds with great skill and it’s difficult to create storms. However, you have described the feeling of sensing every blade of grass, lightening, and exhale of the world. Everyday.” Gaius explained and looked down at his empty bowl as the two of them absorbed this information.

“I thought the ability was lost, or at least confined to only sacred places that only Priests and Priestesses could sense vaguely.” Gaius finally looked at his ward, wishing that his boy gained an ability that wasn’t so…..lonely.

“Great, now I’m even more of a freak. Not only do I get the power to Mirror Life and Death, I can sense nature and _become_ it.” Merlin ate the rest of his broth with a unrestrained harshness.

“Merlin.” Gaius put a comforting hand on his ward’s arm, “I know what you’re thinking, you are _not_ a monster.”

“Gaius---” 

“No, don’t think about it. You were _gifted_ these abilities, never cursed, and I have a feeling it will help you in the years to come.”

Merlin stacked the wooden bowls as he stood up from the table, silently ignoring Gaius’ watchful eyes. He stopped in front of the door to his room and turned around and said thank you for his wise words. Mum had taught him to be polite even if he disagreed. However, Gaius seemed to sense the emptiness belying the words, but decided not to call him out. Merlin was grateful, since he didn’t feel like talking anymore that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos and comments pls uwu


	2. Creepy Things Are Said About Flesh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin gets a letter from the Druids, and must make another trip to the Isle of the Blessed after the whole Questing Beast incident.

“Merlin! There is a small box addressed to you. You can open it after you polish my armor, and you may have the rest of the day off to help Gaius.” Arthur said as he stared at the plain box about a handspan in length and width. His manservant stumbled in from his bedchamber, his hair as messy as his night-clothes. Arthur had to refrain from rolling his eyes in annoyance as Merlin looked dumbly at the package before making unintelligible mumbles of theories of where it came from.

“For god’s sake, Merlin! It probably came from your mother, not some random person from the street. It could also be from a girl.” Arthur explained as he shoved the box into his friend’s chest.

“Rea--”

“Unlikely.” Arthur cut in and destroyed the dawning hope on Merlin’s face, but allowed a small grin to escape to show his teasing tone.

“If it comes from a girl, then that means I get more gifts from girls than you do.” Merlin shot back with a larger grin.

Arthur blanched then sputtered in indignation, “I get gifts from _girls_!”

“Name one.”

“Well, there is---”

“Someone who isn’t royalty, henceforth obliged by etiquette to give you a gift.” Merlin said with a raised eyebrow and even threw in a head tilt. Arthur sprew numerous curses at his man servant as he raked his brain according to Merlin’s criteria. Merlin’s head tilt and disappointed eyebrow only increased as the seconds ticked by.

“Shut up, _Mer_ lin. Don’t you have chores to do?” Arthur spat and turned on his heel to walk out the physician’s door.

Merlin grinned cheekily as he sat down at a table, one with considerably less vials and potions than others scattered throughout the chambers. He was glad for the concealing spell on his skin, because it would’ve been a nightmare to explain his burn wound to Arthur if he ever saw. _Oh yeah, this ol’ thing? I got it from defeating a Priestess of the Old Religion by smiting with her lightening….How? Why, by magic of course! Wait, why you calling the guards, let me explain!_ And then Merlin would be burning on the pyre before Uther can finish saying “Sorcerer!”.

The warlock chuckled grimly as he cut the knot of the ropes binding the box closed with a quick flick of a nearby knife laying about. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw familiar bowls and a bone needle, his nose twitched of an old memory of burning herbs. He picked up the letter tucked beneath the bowls, addressed to him as Emrys. It didn’t take a genius to figure out it was from the Druids, possibly from that same band of Druids in his youth. Merlin shifted uncomfortably in his stool as his back stung with phantom pains as if reliving the acquisition of his runes.

_Dear Emrys,_

_We have promised that we will visit you again, however we cannot at this crucial time and furthermore, we cannot accompany you to where you are needed. Our scryers have told us that you have acquired the power to Mirror Life and Death, and enhanced your influence on the world. You must travel to the Isle of the Blessed again and inscribe a tattoo of the Cup of Life in your left hand. However, for this inscription to work, you must mix a drop of your own blood into the ink. You know the rest._

_May the gods smile on you, greetings from the Druids._

Merlin bit his lip as he thought up of numerous excuses to give Arthur, he could tell him he was visiting Ealdor but the Isle was in the exact other direction. He grimaced as he realized he had to visit the place that was almost Gaius’ grave, and he contemplated telling his mentor the truth. He knew the Isle wasn’t a far trek from Camelot, so he turned around to go back into his room to change from his bed-clothes and into clothes that were airy and baggy on his frame. He didn’t want to change later before he left.

That evening, he eyed the guards of the side entrance that led out from Camelot, and gathered his blue cloak closer to him in the slight autumn chill. Airy clothes weren’t good for keeping heat, but he supposed it was a force of habit for these not-quite rituals. Arthur had raised eyebrows at the change of his usual attire (he even took his neckerchief off for the day) but didn’t say anything. He also simply told Gaius that he was going out and he’ll be back the next evening, and when pressed, said he was going back to the Isle.

“The Isle of the Blessed, Merlin, for god sakes why!” Gaius barely managed to keep it below a yell, ears were always listening in Camelot.

“I have to, I need to learn more about the Cup and its powers. What if someone tries using it for ill and I have no idea how to stop it because I never bothered learning more about it?” Merlin argued as he tucked his supplies into a bag slung by his hip.

Gaius sighed deeply, “If I can’t stop you, my boy, at least I can give you my cloak. It’s chilly tonight, and keep your head low, you hear me?” He gave him a beautiful dark blue cloak that could easily blend into the shadows. Merlin grinned and hugged his mentor as hard as he could, glad for the support.

It was truly sad that Uther’s guards followed such simple noises, and the King wondered how sorcerers could move in and out so easily. He kept to the shadows of the torchlight as the guards investigated a wayward pebble, as if it was simply taking a midnight stroll. He ambled along through the lower town, and then rode off into the night with no one the wiser.

He managed to get to the Isle’s docks by first light, barely stopping to let his horse rest. He stumbled into the boat and didn’t have to mutter a spell to push it toward the Isle of Blessed. Merlin fought sleep as the boat rocked side to side peacefully in a steady rhythm. He could almost believe it was Mum rocking him to sleep if he was again four winters old, but groggily shook his head to clear him of the sentiment.

The boat jarringly came to a stop, telling its passenger that they had finally made to their destination. It took all of Merlin’s will to stand up and walk into the ruins, the ancient magic seemed to thrum so much that the very air itself was humming. Maybe Merlin was imagining things as each footfall coincided with a jump in the hum’s volume. The sheer power of the Isle pressed him down on all sides, clambering for attention with all of the subtlety of a scream. The exact opposite of what he felt in his last visit.

He stumbled to his knees with exhaustion as he finally made it to the altar, his very body felt heavier with passing second. Merlin dimly acknowledged the alarm bells ringing in his head with panic, this was no ordinary exhaustion of staying awake for a day and night. He wondered if the Isle was angry with him and was trying to kill him in retribution for the m...mu…. _murder_ of Nimueh. He only managed to lay his body onto the altar, with some difficulty, before allowing himself to be defeated by sleep. _A life for a life, huh?_ Merlin thought grimly as the dark swallowed him whole.

+++

_Emrys._

Just five more minutes, Mum.

_Emrys, awaken._

No.

_EMRYS._

Merlin winced and finally fought to open his heavy eyes. The mid-day sun beat down on his groggy form, further encouraging him to wake. He had the uneasy feeling that he slept far more than a few hours. He slowly sat up on the altar, his belly strangely full as if he ate a full feast fit for ten kings.

_We apologize, Emrys, for our earlier eagerness._

We? Who are you?

_We are the magicks that rest on the Isle of the Blessed, we have waited for a very long time for you, young warlock._

You said that you were sorry that you were eager, I don’t understand. I thought that you---the magic here---was angry and wanted to kill me.

_We simply wanted you to command us again, did you not feel the happiness from us as you smote Nimueh? We were finally free from her greedy ways, and for a brief moment, **we** were together again. Yes, she understood the Old Religion more than most, but she did not treat us correctly. None of the High Priest and Priestesses ever did. Do you need to command us again, Emrys? We’ll be patient._

Merlin shook his head slowly, and looked down at his bare palms. Actually he did need help with something, and he had a feeling that the magics concentrated here had their fair share of rituals and the necessary knowledge with it. He nudged his own magic toward the collective well that resided in the island, as nothing approached his tentative magic, he respectfully asked for help. The island was all too willing, and he could feel the words of the ritual wash over him like the kiss of the sun on a summer’s day.

He sat up straighter on the altar with his left palm up, the supplies flying out of knapsack and rearranging themselves into order by his side. Now, he just needed the Cup of Life, for reference of course. Merlin gave another gentle tap to the ancient magic and the Cup was there to be beholded in between his sprawled legs.

Merlin was about to start, but the ancient magic pulled away and seemed to chide him for forgetting something. He squinted down at his hands and supplies, and mentally went over the ritual list of ingredients. Then the letter from the Druids came back to him.

_….you must mix a drop of your own blood into the ink._

The warlock pulled up his loose pant leg and unsheathed his knife from his flesh (still a very disturbing sight, to be honest). The ancient magic seemed to nod in approval, well as close as they could anyways with no necks or faces to nod with.

 **“Arsgrifio Cwpan Bywyd a Marwolaeth i mewn i fy palmwydd, yr wyf yn gorchymyn i ti fod yn rhan ohonof,** ” Merlin chanted as the enchanted needles gave a detailed recapture of the Cup onto his left palm, “ **...bob amser yn ac am byth, rhwymo mewn gwaed a thu hwnt eich carchar metel!** ” He finished with a dramatic flourish as the dagger swiped his free hand, and then squeezed his bloody fist on top of the fresh ink to color it.

The Cup of Life and Death looked eerily realistic with the different shades of grey and black, and his blood that somehow filled the drawn cup trembled with each movement of his hand. He experimentally tipped his palm to the side, seeing if the blood would spill out like any other liquid, it didn’t. Not even when he essentially held the cup ‘upside down’, the blood just quivered but didn’t spill a drop.

Now that he thought about it, where did the real Cup of Life and Death go? He looked back at the empty place of where it should be, and quickly stared back at his palm. Did he just, is it….inside of his palm?

_No Emrys, the Cup of Life and Death still has it’s own destiny. One day it shall be returned to you, and truly become encumbered in yourself, never to be separated again. However, there is a bond between the two of you now, in times of great distress, the Cup will call onto you like a beacon for your help. Bear this tattoo as an acknowledgement of your newfound ability, you will have many symbols and runes on your skin in the days to come. Your flesh shall be the pages that bind your life’s story together, never forget that._

Merlin tried to ignore the vague creepiness of his flesh being mentioned many times, but failed. Besides, it was time to get going anyways, Gaius could be mad with worry by now. Before he could get off the altar and gather his stuff, his stomach gave an automatic lurch as if he was falling from a great height. The sky got smaller until it become a pinprick in the darkness, and could feel light from below and rapidly approaching. His nose twitched, funnily enough, didn’t that smell like….

**SLAM.**

Merlin rubbed his head and groaned loudly as he rolled roughly into a table, knocking vials and books over, which added to his pain. The Isle's teleporting magic could use some work, to be honest. He supposed the ancient magics was trying to do him a favor, but all it gave him was a raging headache.

“Merlin!” Gaius shouted in surprise, and quickly moved to his ward’s side. He helped his boy up onto the nearby cot, and looked over him for any signs of injuries during his disappearance for the past week.

“Are you making my favorite broth?” Merlin slurred as his nose scrunched up in confusion, usually his mentor cooked it during celebrations.

“Yes, now where were you, my boy? You were gone for a week!” Gaius admonished him as he gave him a bowl of said broth.

“A week!” Merlin’s eyes widened as he ate a spoonful of broth. “The magic on the Isle knocked me out when I got there.” Merlin quickly said reassurances as he saw his mentor’s face.

“It was fine! I woke up earlier today and I wasn’t hurt, and it was sorta an accident. They even apologized.” Merlin explained with a vigorous nod.

“They? Apologize? Merlin, are you saying that the magic _spoke_ to you?” Gaius raised an eyebrow skeptically.

“Well yeah, except in my mind, or at least I think in my mind. Besides, if you ask nicely, they even help you out with rituals!” Merlin grinned as he showed his left palm to Gaius, then frowned as he saw it was pale as a newborn babe.

“Merlin, there’s nothing here.”

“No, no I know it’s on here!” Merlin’s eyebrows pinched together, and then brightened as the obvious explanation dawned on him. He peeled back the constant cloaking spell over the space of his left palm, and the tattoo was seen, almost glinting in the candlelight.

“The Cup of Life and Death.” Gaius breathed out, attention enraptured by how the blood inside of the goblet trembled and shivered with each minute movement.

“Magical tattoos were often a sign of status among more powerful sorcerers, and Druids used impermanent ones during specific rituals. Sorcerers used them to brag of what powers they were especially good at. Sigan himself had a sun on one shoulder blade, and the moon on the other, a reference to his powers of controlling them. However, these practices were dropped during the Purge, for obvious reasons, and powerful sorcerers had to invent numerous cloaking spells, for tattoos that once blessed them, now damned them.” Gaius explained as Merlin ate his broth quietly as to not miss a word.

A beat of silence passed, “So, what did you tell Arthur?”

“I have a special herbs dealer who lives far away, and I was running out of rare herbs, but my body can no longer take the long trek. So I had to send you to do it for me.” Gaius said neutrally, fighting back a smile.

“Does this ‘special herbs dealer’ happen to exist?” Merlin teased.

“Yes, but where are your herbs, boy?” Gaius mocked back.

Merlin rolled his eyes, closed his two hands together and opened them with a gold flash of his eyes. There was suddenly a bundle of herbs tied together in his hands. “It’s random grass or something from the woods, my magic doesn’t know how to pick specific stuff yet.” Merlin explained with an abashed grin.

“Good, or otherwise I would be sending you out into the woods to laze around for sake of appearances.” Gaius said as both of them laughed in relief that the other was here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is gonna be quick snippets about his evolution of his new power, and then it's time to _part-tay!_
> 
> tell me what you guys think??? kudos and comments would be lovely <3
> 
> the next part in the series is called "A Dragon's Soul", so place your bets on what's gonna be about C:


	3. Let There Be Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin experienced his new power in stages. The beginning was short since he quickly became familiar with it in a few years. However, the middle part was the longest, he exchanged life for a life, sometimes on a mass scale but it was extremely tricky. There was always a few unfortunate souls that he missed using such a wide net.
> 
> Many centuries later......he reached the far end of his power, the _true_ limit.

Merlin gave another loud groan as Arthur went on another rant about how hunting was fun and killing fluffy bunnies was a-okay. He hated it, he truly did. However, due to his one week’s disappearance, Arthur was feeling particularly vindictive, even though Merlin pointed out that he was helping Gaius.

“A whole week, Merlin, did you get lost on the way there?” Arthur mocked as their horses tromped along on the usual hunting trail.

“Well excuse me, it wasn’t my fault the guy lived in such an out of way place!” Merlin said crossly, defending his imaginary trip. Arthur scoffed in disbelief, no doubt questioning the logic of his manservant.

“Merlin.” Arthur shushed, and pulled up his crossbow silently. Merlin’s eyes racked the forest grass, and spotted it. A large grey rabbit, nibbling on a piece of grass innocently. Before Merlin could begin his usual sabotage, it was too late and the arrow was in it’s eye a moment later.

“Beautiful shot, eh Merlin?” Arthur crowed in victory and turned around to face him, “Merlin?”

Merlin’s ears were ringing loudly as his vision shook on the image of the dead rabbit. He felt the urge to pull the rabbit soul toward him and use it. He numbly shook his head of the thoughts, his left palm stinging with pooled power. Pain sparkled from his tongue, not realizing that he had bit it in his concentration to keep his magic tampered down. It took an impossible amount of self control to let the rabbit’s soul go free, this was no ritual nor a sacred sacrifice. He could feel the soul slip through his stiff grip, and to whatever afterlife there was for animal souls.

“You alright there, Merlin? You look a bit green.” Arthur said perplexedly at his behavior.

“I’m alright, my Lord.” Merlin swallowed, “It’s just that hunting doesn’t agree with me, morals and all that.”

Arthur looked at him for a while and finally relented in his concern, and shrugged as they turned around to go back home, to Camelot. Merlin was deep in his own thoughts the entire way back, he hadn’t felt that strange toward the departing of an animal in front of him since he was a kid. In fact, it was considerably harder to control himself, and it seemed that his new power was dumb in sort of a way. It didn’t know the difference between a ritual of in which a death was required, and a simple hunt for food. Merlin admitted sheepishly to himself that he thought the power would come all knowledge acquired over generations and would have a built in manual or of the like.

Looks like Gaius was right, he really was foolish and naive sometimes. It was just that Merlin hadn’t learned much of magic from scratch like most magic users did. However, it seemed that Merlin’s power to Mirror Life and Death simply reflected his own ignorance, and he would need to fix that.

Merlin straightened in his seat with the solution made in his mind as the castle loomed over the two of them. He would need to consult Gaius on it, and perhaps he would guide his magic through the differences. Hopefully it didn’t need him to do actual rituals and sacrifices so his magic could learn first hand the true difference. Perhaps it was too much to ask for, since anything in Merlin’s life was rarely so easy.

+++

Merlin stood over the dying boy, another war created by Agravine’s lies and Arthur’s obliviousness. Unlike last time, only one life was taken, the dust had settled and Arthur reigned triumphant over the opposing army’s champion. Arthur was walking away, laughing with his knights and making plans with his soon to be wife at home. It was one of the new knights, only had the knighting ceremony the week before, who spotted the arrow flying toward his sovereign. No one had noticed his sacrifice, everyone was simply too far ahead packing up the camps and supplies.

It was just him gasping in the dirt, and Merlin standing over him, filled with pure gratitude for the boy’s bravery. Merlin hadn’t seen the arrow either, and Arthur would’ve died on his watch. Merlin turned his gaze away from the boy, and narrowed his eyes at the shooter. Only moments later, the man had simply went crazy for no reason and stuck his sword in himself. Merlin crouched down onto his knees in the hard gravel, splaying out his left palm. His fingers twitched and the Cup of Life was held delicately in his hand.

“Drink, my Lord.” Merlin encouraged as he held the goblet to the boy’s mouth, pouring the water inside. The boy coughed and his cheeks flushed and he shakily sat up to meet Merlin’s eyes head on. Merlin watched him carefully, he could have made a mistake.

“T-Thank you, but how?” the boy asked awed.

“Are you going to tell the king? I would rather you did not.” Merlin asked back, but with a wry grin. The boy hesitated, but shook his head no, and then his face became serious.

“If you need anything of me, I would do it in a heartbeat.” the boy avowed, “Anything at all, you saved me life, sir. Name’s Galahad.”

“Merlin. Don’t worry about it, I save the king’s life all the time and do I get any thanks? Noooo, so you’re already in my good graces, Galahad. If you see anyone suspicious, like I’m gonna kill the king sort of way, not the….other way.” Merlin beamed as he stood up and dusted off his knees. He held out a hand to the knight, and was stunned when the man held his forearm to help himself up. It was a silent acknowledgement of respect from one knight to another.

Merlin held the knight steady as they walked toward the camp, silently adding Galahad’s name to his list of secret ally slash spy network.

+++

Merlin looked at the computer screen of his console of his crew’s spaceship, things definitely weren’t good by the look of it. There was a solar system attempting evacuation due to the quickly dying star at the center of it. Reports were predicting that the star could quickly become a supernova and wipe out the life on the planets below and the surrounding space. Usually supernovas had plenty of warning and signs, but there was the recent invention of a terrible weapon. A weapon that could force nuclear fusion to grind to a complete stop.

He had to save these people, and evacuating them was already proving to be too much trouble, these people haven’t even reached the first level of classification of an advanced civilization! Space travel was centuries, even millennia away according to their projected growth. It was difficult to get them to accept aliens in one breath, and that their star was dying and they had to leave in the next.

“Merlin, where are you going?” Bones asked as Merlin ran to the teleporting bay. He skidded to a stop and immediately put on his spacesuit, there wasn’t enough oxygen to sustain a human down there.

“Merlin?” Chekov asked with wide eyes as he stood under the teleporting beam.

“Beam me down, please.” Merlin asked as he made the final adjustments to his suit, when Bones rushed in.

“Are you mad! The natives are increasing hostilities, and what the hell are you gonna be doing down there? You can’t stop it, the star’s going to become a supernova, it’s simple science! I hardly doubt a man,” Bone’s eyes flicked to Chekhov's confused face, “of your _expertise_ can do anything.”

Merlin shook his head, “I know these people need to live longer, and I need to save them. That’s what I’ll always do, Bones. Also, can you make sure the crew isn’t looking?” He nodded toward Chekhov, and he could feel his atoms scramble and rearrange themselves onto the planet below.

Merlin took a look at the violently red sky, and the ominous setting star on the horizon. His left palm stung as it always did when he tapped into this particular power. He could see the reflection of his eyes in his visor as they blinked gold, then blinding white, before finally setting on glittering with comets and galaxies swirling lazily around in his irises. The colors of space in his eyes seemed to be more vibrant in the crimson glint of the sunset. He raised his hands until it seemed to cup the star in his palms, and raised his eyes to the night sky. Merlin’s eyes studied it until he found the correct star he was looking for.

He had to admit to himself, he hadn’t used this power in a way like this, but hey, first time for everything.

Merlin had done a quick search of the closest star systems that was empty of inhabited planets, and would never house any ever. He raised his right palm to splay over that particular star and pulled. If he remembered his physics correctly, likely he did, since he had at least twenty master’s degrees in that field. He not only had to pull in space, but in time as well due to the whole difference in lightyears.

Sweat beaded his brow as he could feel himself push beyond his previous limits, and creating new ones with each pull. He stared at the pinprick of light in the sky until his forehead ached from the tension.

The star flickered.

Merlin gave a smirk, and pulled some more, eyes shining brightly through his visor with the sheer amount of power he was manipulating. Then, to his surprise, a thin line trickled out of the star. The line grew in thickness as it made a slant across the sky to the setting sun, and it got harder to look at with each moment. He mentally cursed to himself as he set a simultaneous spell of shielding the entire solar system of the extra light, he didn’t want anybody’s eyeballs to burn out, after all.

Merlin realized with a jolt at the quick mental calculations of how fast the light was traveling if it was happening in seconds, he was sure that he broke the law of physics. However, he did that plenty of times by now, so no worries.

He moved his hand along the light’s path, silently noticing that the place where the star once occupied was an empty blank space. His breaths became harsher as he started using both of his hands to control the flow of it, much like controlling the waves of a rolling sea in a storm.

The light had finally entered the solar system and spinned around the dying star, swirling in like a water around a drain. He moved his hands in the same twirling motion, his magic working a thousand different spells all at once to maintain the shielding spells, making sure neither the planets nor the sun spun out of balance, and trying to reignite nuclear fusion more than a million miles away.

He finished with a flourish with a slow rise of his hands to the sky, creating a stable sun and lowering all of his shields. He panted and shakily fell to his knees and fell onto his bleeding palms. Merlin noticed with a dazed look at the small drops of blood on his visor as well, his nose had started bleeding and didn’t even know til now.

He ignored the warning pings that his oxygen level was low as he took another reverent look at the sun, now only a sliver visible. The sky lightening to a healthy shade of orange, purples, and pinks, before giving way to greys and muted blues.

That…...definitely should’ve killed him.

It was stupendously stupid, reckless, rash, careless, even to the point of kamikaziness. He was sure numerous worrywarts that he had known over the centuries would be rolling in their graves by now, and probably asking to a higher power why he was so idiotic. That was a question he hadn’t answered himself.

He huffed a wheezy laugh, there was an infinite amount of scenarios where he probably could have killed everybody in a fiery death. Looks like the motivational posters were right, he truly was one in a billion’s billion.

Merlin fell back slowly onto his back, watching the stars above him twinkling, ignoring the strange sensation of his atoms scrambling themselves due to the teleportation beam.

He felt the long dark fingers of sleep close his eyelids gently and his awareness fell away.

+++

Merlin groaned as he felt hands shaking him awake, and sat up on a lumpy cot, most likely in the medical bay then. Again. Bones was staring at him with eyebrows pushed downwards and a frown carved into his features.

“What?” Merlin asked as he stretched and yawned in place. Bones took out a hand screen, and opened it to Universal News, and clicked on a video titled ‘STRANGE STAR EVENT NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE’.

_As you can see, subscribers, this was a recorded viewing of SS-198 from a patrol satellite of that quadrant. Look! [gasp of breath] the star is unwinding itself, and the light is going somewhere! Reports are being sent in all over the quadrant, so many witnesses to this beautiful miracle that happened in five star-minutes._

_[changes to a shaky video of a Morokian family watching the sky] ___

_This family was one of the many who had seen it, and luckily filmed it all! Watch, the sky gets turned to day as the light shockingly goes around the planet! It should have burned it to ashes due to the sheer amount of heat radiating in all directions for millions of miles. Look at those light trails, it’s just simply beautiful. ___

_[changes to a black and white video outside of a spaceship, and an astronaut is floating outside]_

_Everyone was affected, and something even more miraculous and physics-defying had happened to these Quadrant officials!_

_[screen gets brighter, but viewers can still see the stream of light barreling past them, but the astronaut’s arm is caught in the stream]_

_Watch!_

_[astronaut pulls his arm away, whole and unhurt]_

_Impossible, our scientists are crying out, by all rights his arm should’ve been burned right off and ruptured his suit. Not even that, the ship should’ve melted long before the stream had passed by them. But that’s not all viewers, oh no. We have compiled right here at Universal News, all stunning and breathtaking reports over the last light-hour of all the lives this former star had touched._

_[screen flickers to the stream of light bending around a planet]_

_[starlight twirling around another star’s gravity field but somehow escaping it]_

_[three suns in Borcca’s skyline briefly turns to five for a moment]_

_[passes over a black hole, a sheer impossibility that not a single light atom was sucked in]_

_[security video inside a cruise spaceship; passengers wide eyed in awe as the light passed through them and miniature suns spinning lazily in palms before zipping off]_

_[interview of a well-known scientist, spittle flying out of his mouth as he demonstrated with jerky movements that every single star system and any celestial body for that matter should’ve reeled violently right off their axis and orbits, resulting in brutal wrecks and countless loss of lives as different videos played in the background]_

_[camera switches back to news-woman]_

_Yes, it’s truly unexplainable and mysterious. However this is breaking news, a new video has been sent in from USS Enterprise, whose crew was lucky to see the end of the star’s stunning journey._

_[the light finally relents to the laws of physics as it swirls into a red supergiant star, light flickering dimly but brightens as the light fuses into it]_

_According to reports, the red supergiant was hit with the new terrifying weapon of causing nuclear fusion to stop. The USS Enterprise crew was trying to evacuate an entire star system of inhabitants, but all of them were less than a Classification 1 of Civilization and the natives were resisting. The star was light-moments away from becoming a supernova, and billions of lives would’ve have been lost in the blast, and nearby star systems would’ve been affected if the supernova had turned into a black hole. All hope was lost._

_[star brightens and solar flares shoot up, as if it was celebrating it’s new chance at life]_

_Until for some reason, a star gave it’s own healthy lifespan to a dying one. It seems that mystery still hadn’t left this universe, and that’s truly for the best._

Bones turned the hand screen off, and Merlin slowly pulled his eyes away from the blank screen.

“Did…..” Merlin trailed off, voice shaky as he realized why the shielding and balance spells were so difficult. He wasn’t carrying the weight of one solar system, he carried _all_ of them in the _entire quadrant_.

“No one saw you, Merlin. However, I think Chekhov suspects and he hasn’t left his room for the past three days.”

“Oh.” Merlin held his trembling palms to his face, but paused as he saw the Cup of Life glinting in the harsh neon light of the medical bay. He had took away the cloaking spells on his skin a long time ago, but he supposed he hadn’t told Bones the meaning of such symbols.

“Bones, do you know what this cup represents?” Merlin whispered, and gave a watery smile as his friend pulled up a chair and nodded in encouragement. Merlin revealed everything to Bones that night, and he was glad for another good friend so far in the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> STAR FOR A STAR!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> I literally was so excited to write the star part and I wrote it all in one go on Monday night
> 
> I was playing epic music in my head as I wrote it, oh gee, I even stopped and stared into the distance being awed at such a mental image
> 
>  
> 
> _STARS!!!_
> 
>  
> 
> I guess it would make sense, since _we're_ made of stardust, and stars.....so yeah!
> 
> the crew was none the wiser, and Chekhov became Merlin's new bestie and covers for Merlin too C:
> 
> this is also a sorta reference to that Star Trek crossover I made in 480 Days, chapter 16 :D
> 
> just imagine a Merlin series.....but _set in space_


End file.
